Around the House

These days, time for projects around the house is pretty limited. But I do have a few updates to share.

We finally purchased a new fridge and dishwasher about a month ago. Both are Kenmore Elite. Our old appliances were white, so for now we have a mismatched stove/micro, but I'm okay with that. I think we'll replace those within the year or early next year. For now, they both work fine (and let's face it, our oven doesn't get a lot of use), so there is no rush other than the aesthetics.

It is true what they say, stainless shows fingerprints much more than white. As you can see here...

I love the french door layout. Everything is at eye-level. No more forgotten and spoiled veggies in the bottom drawer. We moved our old fridge to the garage, so now we have a place to keep soda, water, extra juice boxes, etc. It is nice to keep this fridge clutter-free, with just what we use on a regular basis.

Same goes for the freezer. Most stuff is still out in the garage freezer. But we've got the essentials--popsicles galore, vanilla ice cream, and steam-cook veggies. Ben's faves! And Mike's very favorite Palermo's Italian Sausage thin crust pizzas. I'm not much of a pizza fan, but Mike claims these are almost as good as takeout. So give them a try if you are looking for a good frozen pizza. I get ours at Target.

Here is the matching dishwasher. So quiet. And the dishes are so much cleaner. My heart is just so happy with these two new additions to the family. :-)

I also bought a new Dustbuster. I hate the suction on our Dyson's attachment. The vacuum itself works great, but I feel like the attachment doesn't cut it. So I got this. I had a Dustbuster years ago, and I felt like it wasn't powerful. I looked on Amazon, and this one was the best seller and had good reviews, so I'm hoping that means that they have improved its performance. So far, so good. But we just got it a few days ago... But it is so nice to just grab this to clean those crumbs and things under the table after the kids eat, rather than lugging out the big vacuum.

I also finally made more progress on the kids' bathroom. I took down the towel bar and bought these hooks back when I was on maternity leave with Liv (who's now 15 months). I was originally going to use a painted board under the hooks, but that seemed like too much work once I started, so I just put the hooks directly into the wall using anchors. Now I just need to fill the holes (from when I was going to use the board and started drilling pilot holes) and paint. As you can see, I tried out the paint color in Ben's room, but it looks too purple in this room. So the hunt continues. 

Ben actually hung his towel without being asked after his bath last night, so we might be on to something.

That's about it, besides decluttering the guest room in anticipation of Grammy and Grampy's visit at the end of the month and moving things around in the master bedroom. And removing the doors/clearing out the closet by the garage in the hopes of making more of a "mudroom" out of it. I'll post if it ever gets done...

Out and About

Here are pictures of some various outings with the kids in the last week or two.

Mike was gone all day one Saturday for his brother's bachelor party, so the kids and I kept busy in order for me to survive the day. Ben needed a hair cut, so we headed over to his appointment at Kidsnips. How handsome is he? He has been going there since he was 6 months and is so good. He sits politely, moves his head as needed, and is such a sweetie. I usually let him pick out a toy on our way out. Today, he chose this Volkswagen bus.

Liv didn't need a hair cut (thank god, because she doesn't sit as politely as her brother), but she was quite content when they gave her a lollipop. Total mess, but kept her happy and quiet for 15 minutes! Remind me to keep a stash of these in my purse. ;-) (And notice she is wearing only one shoe. She will not keep two shoes on her feet.)

After Liv went down for a nap, we had lunch outside. Until a fly buzzed around and Ben wanted to go in. Oh my, it's going to be a long summer if he won't deal with flies.

Liv at dinner. I just call this one "BBQ Sauce." Enough said.

Monday, Ben had a dentist's appointment, and afterwards we always go on a "date." Liv is too much of a handful to bring with us to the dentist, so I just take Ben and go back to Creative World for her later. Plus, it is nice to have some one-on-one time with him. I told Ben we could eat dinner at Chipotle after his appointment and sit on the high stools. He always wants to sit on them, but Liv is not old enough and the highchairs are too short.

We did sit on the stools, but toward the end he got cold (the AC was really cranked up), and so we decided to sit at the tables outside and eat, which was actually much nicer, in my opinion.

This weekend, the whole family (even Dee) headed to Panera Bread for breakfast. It was a nice morning, and Liv was in a relatively mellow mood for a change, so we figured we could eat outside and bring Dee along.

Check out Liv's flock of seagulls hair-don't.

Not sure why Mike looks so grumpy. My incessant need to take photos, or perhaps he is just eyeing Liv's eggs with longing?

 Dee scarfing down some eggs that Liv threw on the ground.

We were quite a scene, I'm sure. Luckily (or unluckily, I suppose), Ben was up at 5:30, so it was pretty early when we arrived, and there weren't many people around.

Lesli commented that I am never in the photos because I am always taking them. True, very true. So here I am. The elusive Mom. "They do exist!"

Notice who's in my lap. The highchair lasted about 10 minutes. Which is actually like an hour in Liv time, so I shouldn't complain.

Of course, since she was on my lap she decided to drink and then spit her milk out. Funny that Mike got a photo mid-spit. Thanks Liv! Mom loves smelling like sour milk all morning.

At this point, breakfast was over and Ben was ready to head across the parking lot to throw a few coins in the fountain. Not to be out done, Liv threw a penny three times and never once did the penny make it into the water. Next, she tried to climb into the fountain. I have no pictures because I was too busy wrangling her.

Golf

Mike is teaching Ben his love of (obsession with) golfing. Recently, Mike got Ben his own club and has been taking him to the range on the weekends. For safety reasons, only when Liv is napping do we let him putt in the backyard with it.

Check Ben out!

And a video of him in action. Bubba Watson, eat your heart out. ;-) (Bubba is Ben's favorite player.)

Shenanigans

Ben and Liv decided that it would be fun to flip her stool upside down and ride it around the house like a motorcycle. Okay...

Here is a quick video of them in action. You may be able to tell from the dialog that Friday is doughnut day around here. Ben knows his doughnuts!



And Liv has finally realized that she can climb up the stairs. She's fast, but she doesn't seem very interested. We don't even really have to worry about keeping the gate closed. Whereas with Ben, if he could get near the stairs, he was climbing them.

Water Play

Saturday afternoon, Ben got into his bathing suit. For no apparent reason. So I suggested we pull out the water table. This was Liv's first time using it. She was a fan!

At first, she just wanted to check out all the toys. As Ben was opening up the bucket, he told her "Don't worry, Bean. There are plenty, so we can share."

This week they kick off summer camp at Creative World, which means water play days on Tues/Thur, so both kids needed water shoes. Ben's been asking for crocs, so I picked them both up a pair the other day. How cute is she in her little pink crocs?

Ben found the mini watering can and decided to give the flowers a drink.

Liv loves her dollies. She spotted this one on the table (it talks so I tried to hide it from her so she wouldn't get it wet). I should have put it up higher, because she spotted it, and then I couldn't pry it out of her little hands.

Luckily, dolly stayed relatively dry and is still functioning.

Then we had an incident where Ben misunderstood my suggestion and sprayed Liv in the face with the hose, so she was done. We snuggled in a towel for a few minutes, then she wanted in her own chair, and eventually up on the table (this kid loves to sit on tables). What a ragamuffin.

Here is the video of our "misunderstanding." I told Ben I wanted a video of Liv playing with the hose, so could he spray it at her? He took me literally. I meant "toward" her but said "at" her. Ben acts like such an adult sometimes that I forgot he is only 4. Not his fault. Bad Mom. Poor Liv.

Thank goodness the hose nozzle was on the mist setting and not jet!

Breakfast of Champions

Mike went golfing early on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, so I promised Ben we could go to McDonald's for breakfast, special treat. Every time we drive by one, he asks if we can go in and eat. Grammy and Grampy used to take us to McD's sometimes for breakfast before I'd go to work when they were here waiting for Liv to arrive. I guess he missed going. They taught Ben all about the big breakfast with hot cakes, so that is what he ordered.

Meanwhile, Liv was an absolute beast. She is going through a phase. A bad phase. A "refuse to sit in a highchair, want to grab everything and see how far I can throw it, and make the biggest mess possible" phase. This is not my favorite age.

After trying the highchair unsuccessfully, I tried holding her on my lap. She grabbed at everything, threw food on the floor, and squirmed to get down. So I let her sit on the bench. That last 2 minutes.

Please note, I did have her in adorable silver sandals to match her Memorial Day dress, but she pulled them off and threw them. I gave up after the third try. Like I said, a bad phase. :-)

Besides the ick factor of her bare feet on the bench, I was happy with this arrangement.

Until this happened. Not only did she crawl up onto the table, but she sat on the tray. Oh, this kid. (My mantra.)

Ben sat across from us, eating syrup directly from the packet. But hey, at least he was quiet and not throwing things or climbing the table. Four is a good age for taking kids out and about. 14 months, not so much.

To top it all off, she got mad on the way home because she threw both her dolly and her paci, and I couldn't reach them to hand them back to her. So she cried the entire. way. home. 

(Side note, she is in a big girl car seat now. Since she is our last, I went with a seat with a little purple, just a little girly.) 

They probably have our picture up on the "do not serve" list at McD's.